Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c59.s3.24

v4.c59.s3.24

In deed, the intellectual and moral regeneration of India will be remembered as the greatest glory of British imperialism. Such a renaissance has not been seen anywhere else in the world’s history.* On our hopelessly decadent society, the rational progressive spirit of Europe struck with resistless force. First of all, an honest and efficient administration was imposed on the country and directed by a British agency to ensure peace and economic growth. Then, within one generation the land began to recover from the blight of mediæval theocratic rule. Education, literature, society, religion, man’s handiwork and political life,—all felt the revivifying touch of the new impetus from the west. The dry bones of a stationary oriental society began to stir under the wand of a heaven-sent magician. It was truly a Renaissance, wider, deeper, and more revolutionary than that of Europe after the fall of Constantinople.